Connect Who or what is your inspiration in business?

I met my business partner coming out of college doing commercial real estate. I leased him a small warehouse where he was importing some of the best olive oil I’ve ever had from his family farm in Italy. He moved here with his two daughters and wife in 2016 to chase the American dream and give his daughters more of a future opportunity. I was buying all my olive oil for personal use for 4 years but noticed no one was buying. I had a background in E-commerce and we partnered up in November

How do you stay motivated?

I work a 9-5 at a bank while Gilberto works the warehouse. I go over there on my lunch breaks and at night to help out. I’ve always had a passion for food and my Italian heritage. And I knew we could take this small business and grow it online. It turned from a passion project to a full time business that did over $250k our first year. I stay motivated by wanting to build a business that changes the trajectory of my life and Gilberto’s family’s life.

What would you do with the $25,000?

We would reinvest it into the business. We have never raised money and have completely bootstrapped the business to date. We had a few investors approach us but they wanted to take our hand made products by local artists on the Amalfi coast and replace them with mass produced bottles from china. For this reason we told the investors we weren’t interested and stuck to our roots. If we won we would purchase the equipment we need to approach large retailers like Whole Foods.